Planning the Perfect Australian Road Trip
Expert tips on routes, stops, and keeping kids entertained during family road trip adventures.
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Travel Planning
Complete guide to term dates, holidays, and family activities across all states and territories
Planning family time around school holidays can be challenging, especially when each Australian state and territory follows its own academic calendar. Our comprehensive school holiday planning tool eliminates the confusion by bringing together official term dates, public holidays, and school break periods from all eight states and territories in one easy-to-use platform.
Whether you're coordinating interstate family visits, booking holiday accommodation well in advance, or simply trying to sync leave from work with your children's school breaks, our interactive calendar provides the accurate, up-to-date information you need. We source our data from official state education departments and update our calendars as soon as any changes are announced, giving Australian families confidence in their holiday planning.
Use the tools below to filter by your state, switch between calendar and list views, and discover the best times to plan your family adventures throughout 2026.
National parks, beaches, hiking trails, and camping spots perfect for family holidays.
Museums, galleries, historical sites, and cultural centers across Australia.
Theme parks, zoos, aquariums, and family entertainment venues.
Local markets, food festivals, and culinary experiences for the whole family.
Get ready for the school holidays with these popular family-friendly products. Perfect for road trips, beach days, camping adventures, and keeping kids entertained.
| Product | Category | Perfect For | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Kids Travel Luggage
Fun wheeled suitcases for little travellers
|
Travel | Road trips, Flights | View on Amazon |
|
Pop-Up Beach Tent
UV protection shelter for beach days
|
Beach | Beach holidays, Parks | View on Amazon |
|
Kids Camping Set
Child-sized camping gear and accessories
|
Camping | Camping trips, Backyard | View on Amazon |
|
Travel Games Bundle
Compact games for long car journeys
|
Games | Car trips, Rainy days | View on Amazon |
|
Activity Books Pack
Educational puzzles and colouring books
|
Educational | Quiet time, Learning | View on Amazon |
|
Kids Binoculars
Perfect for nature walks and wildlife spotting
|
Outdoor | Nature walks, Zoos | View on Amazon |
|
Pool Toys & Floats
Inflatable fun for pool and beach
|
Water Fun | Pool, Beach, Summer | View on Amazon |
|
Kids Headphones
Volume-limited headphones for safe listening
|
Travel | Flights, Car trips | View on Amazon |
Expert tips and ideas to help you make the most of your school holidays
Expert tips on routes, stops, and keeping kids entertained during family road trip adventures.
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Read MoreOur interactive school holiday calendar is designed to make planning your family's year as simple as possible. Start by selecting your state or territory from the dropdown menu at the top of the calendar section. This filters the display to show only the term dates and holidays relevant to your location. You can toggle between Calendar View for a visual monthly overview or List View for a detailed chronological breakdown of all holidays.
Each holiday period is colour-coded for easy identification: school terms appear in green, term breaks in gold, and public holidays in red. Click on any date to see more details about upcoming holidays and events. For families with children in different states, select "All States" to compare holiday periods across jurisdictions and find overlapping dates for planning extended family gatherings.
Each Australian state and territory has its own education department that sets school term dates independently. This results in variations of typically one to two weeks between states. Factors influencing these differences include local public holidays, climate considerations, and historical scheduling patterns. Queensland, for example, often has earlier mid-year breaks to align with cooler winter months, while southern states may adjust dates around seasonal factors.
State education departments typically publish school term dates 12 to 18 months in advance. For 2026, most states released their calendars in mid-2024 to early 2025. We update our calendar as soon as official announcements are made. However, dates can occasionally change due to unforeseen circumstances, so we recommend checking back closer to your planned holiday dates for any updates.
Private and independent schools in Australia generally follow similar term structures to public schools but may have slight variations in their exact start and end dates. Some private schools have longer mid-year breaks or different term lengths. We recommend checking directly with your specific school for their calendar, while using our state dates as a general guide for public school schedules and planning around public holidays.